Chapter 22: The Bastion Raid
Dawn came blood-red.
The Bastion of Chainkeepers loomed on the horizon like a fortress carved from bone and iron, its towers coated in glowing glyphs, its gates reinforced with soulsteel—a material forged from condemned System cores. The place reeked of control, of order enforced by cruelty.
Rayden and the Broken crouched within a ridge of scorched rock overlooking the outer perimeter. The wind howled, carrying the scent of sulfur and char. Kaelri's illusions danced over them, bending light to hide their presence from detection glyphs.
"This place was built to break people," Thorn muttered, eyes narrowed. "Now we break it."
Rayden didn't respond. His focus was absolute.
[Quest Activated: Liberation Protocol]
Objective: Breach the Bastion. Free the Nullbound. Survive.
Optional: Defeat the Warden. Retrieve Core Keys.
Reward: New Skill Branch Unlocked – [Wrath Architect]
He closed his fist. A tremor ran up his arm as the System responded, coiling fury into his bones.
"Positions," Rayden ordered.
Kaelri, Thorn, and two others—Jexa and Murn—moved to flank the eastern gate while Rayden descended alone toward the front. No disguises. No stealth.
He wanted them to see him.
Alarms screamed the moment he stepped onto the soulsteel bridge.
Automated archers—golems of ash and light—rose from their sockets and fired. Rayden's System flared, forming a kinetic shield of rage that turned arrows to dust.
Then, with a roar, he slammed his palm into the gates.
[Skill Activated: Wrathquake Lv.2]
The soulsteel rippled.
Then cracked.
Then shattered, exploding inward like a volcano of molten iron.
Inside, panic reigned. Chainkeeper Enforcers scrambled to form formations, their armor glowing with restrictive glyphs. One stepped forward, his voice amplified by his System: Voice of Order.
"By decree of the High Seer—"
Rayden didn't let him finish.
He hurled a blade of compressed fury straight through the Enforcer's chest, sending him crashing through three walls before his voice was swallowed by silence.
The battle ignited.
Kaelri's illusions blinded the archers. Thorn, now in complete control of his volatile fire, created walls of flame that corralled enemy reinforcements. Jexa and Murn released EMP runes stolen from a forgotten vault, short-circuiting the internal warding systems.
The Nullbound—prisoners held in stasis cells—began to awaken.
Their cells cracked, Systems flickering back to life after years of suppression. Some wept. Some screamed. Others stood in stunned silence.
Rayden reached one in particular: a woman with silver hair and shackles laced with cursed script. Her eyes opened, glowing white.
"You're…" she gasped, "You're him. The second."
Rayden nodded. "You're free."
She touched the broken shackle, and a storm ignited around her body.
[System Reactivation: Tempest Witch – Rank S]
She screamed into the heavens, and lightning obliterated a tower.
The Warden finally emerged.
Ten feet tall, covered in runes and mechanical grafts, he held a warhammer the size of a boulder. His System had no name—only a number burned across his chest: Class-0 Overseer.
Rayden stepped forward.
The Warden swung first—too fast, too brutal.
Rayden met the strike with his bare hands.
[Unchained Fury Lv.2: Berserk Counter]
The impact cratered the entire yard, but Rayden didn't fall. He pushed back, flames spiraling from his shoulders, eyes wild with crimson light.
"You kept them in cages," he growled.
The Warden answered only with another blow.
This time, Rayden welcomed it.
Their fight cracked the Bastion's foundation. Kaelri screamed for Rayden to fall back—but he didn't hear. The System was singing in his blood. Feeding him power. Showing him glimpses of skill trees he hadn't unlocked—yet.
At last, with a scream that tore open the sky, Rayden drove both fists into the Warden's chest.
[Skill: Wrath Architect – Tier 1 Unlocked]
New Trait: Rage Constructs Available
The warhammer disintegrated. The Warden collapsed. And the entire Bastion began to fall.
Rayden emerged from the rubble, bloodied but smiling. Behind him, a hundred freed prisoners staggered out into the light, blinking at the sky they hadn't seen in years.
Kaelri stood beside him, awe and fear in her voice.
"You didn't just win," she said. "You changed the world."
Rayden looked out at the rising sun. He knew better.
This was just the beginning.